In turnabout, Blunt backs new restrictions on visa waiver program

WASHINGTON—In a reversal, Sen. Roy Blunt on Tuesday called for tightening a program that allows foreigners from certain Western and Asian countries to enter the U.S. without a visa.

Last week, Blunt defended his support for a bill that would expand--not restrict--that visa waiver program. He said last week Congress should be careful in any legislative efforts to clamp down on travel to the U.S. from friendly countries because it could hurt the tourism industry and deal a blow to the economy.

But with other lawmakers endorsing restrictions and growing fears of terrorist attacks in the U.S., Blunt on Tuesday signed on to legislation that he said would “strengthen” the visa waiver program and “ensure terrorists cannot exploit America’s ties with our friends and allies to enter the country and carry out attacks within our borders.”

Currently, the visa waiver program allows travelers from 38 countries — mostly European countries but also Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan — to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days, without advance approval. An estimated 20 million visitors come to the U.S. without visas annually under that initiative.

Require European travelers who are from Iraq, Syria, or other terrorist-linked countries--or who have visited those countries in the past five years--to go through the regular visa process, which require consular interviews and greater scrutiny overseas, rather than simply arrive with a passport;

Allow the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to suspend countries from the visa-waiver program if they don’t share certain intelligence information about security risks of travelers;

Require countries that participate in the visa waiver program to issue special “e-passports” that include biometric information, such as fingerprints, and requires countries to be able to confirm that such documents are legitimate when they are scanned.

The House overwhelmingly passed a companion proposal on Tuesday, on a vote of 409 to 17. The bill, called the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Last week, Blunt told the News-Leader that he was skeptical of a similar Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Like the Johnson bill, the Flake-Feinstein bill would require travelers using the visa waiver program to submit certain biometric information, such as fingerprints and a photograph, before entering the U.S. It would also require anyone who has visited Syria or Iraq in the past five years to get a regular tourist visa, instead of coming to the U.S. through the waiver program.

Asked last week if he was supportive of that measure, Blunt said, “I am not.”

In an interview with the News-Leader Thursday, Blunt questioned whether that bill would be effective in blocking terrorists from entering the U.S. “What if you’ve been to Libya or Yemen?” Blunt asked, naming terrorism hot spots not identified in the Flake-Feinstein bill. “And what if you went to Syria or Iraq and nobody knew?”

In September, Blunt co-sponsored legislation that would expand the visa waiver program, making it easier for new countries to participate. That bipartisan proposal, called the JOLT Act and spearheaded by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., would also expedite the visa application process and require the use of electronic passports for some travelers.

Blunt said last week that he was open to strengthening the visa waiver program but expressed concern that such a move could hinder legitimate tourism and business travel. Congress needs to be careful, he said, about “messing with the 20-million-person a year pattern of established travel” through the visa waiver program.

Blunt’s spokesman said the senator had not switched his position.

“He didn’t change his mind,” said spokesman Brian Hart. "He supports expanding the program and strengthening in the program."

Hart said Blunt was concerned that the Flake-Feinstein bill was not flexible enough in determining which countries would trigger additional restrictions. Under the Johnson bill, the Homeland Security Department and other federal agencies would work together to "define high risk countries and revisit those designations."

" ... It will strengthen the program and keep the program in place," Hart said.